Takvim Newspaper

Turkish engineers have developed a new system that can detect breaks, cracks and other faults on the rails by means of vibration.

The system, developed by Enekom’s design team, is able to detect broken segments, cracks and various damages on the rails remotely, automatically and in advance via acoustic vibrations generated.

Track circuits, which are the most widely known and used broken rail detection method in the world, operate with the principle of electrical continuity on the rail. However, because the rail is also used as a return current line, this method can cause serious perceptual errors.

“Railacoustic”

HOW IS IT WORKING?

Enekom, which is located in METU Technopolis, has developed an innovative and precise ‘Rail Fracture and Crack Detection System’ (Broken Rail Detection System) in order to meet the needs of the industry in this field and to produce a local solution at the same time.

RailAcoustic works on the principle that the vibration generated at a certain frequency on the rail is detected from 2 points, one away from the other.

An acoustic vibration is injected to the rail on the one hand at the same time from another point of this vibration signal is read. The difference between the vibration signal levels carried through the faulty or damaged rail segment between the two points and reflected acoustic signal from the faulty zone is detected and processed by the sensitive electronical detectors of the system and is processed digitally and the result is transferred to the control center via the fiber optic communication line.

It is possible to perform remote measurement at the desired time intervals on the line equipped with vibration application and sensing modules installed every 1.5 to 2 kilometers distance. The signals that are evaluated by the control center computer generates an audio-visual warning alarm in case of damage on the rails.

APPLIED TO ANKARA-KONYA HIGH SPEED RAILWAY LINE

On the Ankara-Konya High Speed ​​Train Line, the first level system performance tests have been successfully completed.

“RAILACOUSTIC” IN THE WORLD

Mr Haluk Gokmen, General Manager of Enekom, reported that in many countries, RailAcoustic’s patent transactions have been finalized and taken the system is now under protection. Mr Gokmen said: ‘We have secured ourselves as the only organization in the world with these critical patents”.

Mr Gökmen also added that: “RailAcoustic has received interest from India, Australia, China, South Korea, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Japan, and some other countries”.

Source: Takvim Newspaper